Dr. Rita Colwell, Chair of the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, invites you to the launch of new resources for the National Research Council (NRC) report Seeking Solutions: Maximizing American Talent by Advancing Women of Color in Academia: Summary of a Conference.

The Seeking Solutions report discusses the current status of women of color faculty in academia, explores the challenges for women of color, and included successful programs and policies for creating the institutional transformation which is required to increase the representation of women of color at all levels of the academic workforce. In addition, Seeking Solutions identifies reliable and credible data sources as well as areas for new research and data collection.

The report elucidates factors and highlights ways that organizations can take action to create institutional cultures that are hospitable to people of any gender, race and ethnicity. In addition to a summary of all the conference plenary sessions and two data intensive commission papers, a total of 28 written testimonies were solicited from a wide range of professional societies and federal agencies showing their efforts to maximize American talent by supporting women of color as well as emphasizing the broader needs that need to be addressed in order to advance women of color.

These resources and tools are free and easily accessible to professional societies, federal agencies, other institutions and individuals. In this way, CWSEM hopes to facilitates the dissemination of the report broadly and to encourage the stakeholders to take appropriate actions within their own communities. The full summary of the conference can be accessed at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18556 Please contact CWSEM (cwsem@nas.edu) to request printed copies of the full report or the Overview.

Rita Colwell (NAS member), Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland, College Park, and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Speakers:Beth Mitchneck, Program Director, ADVANCE Program, National Science Foundation;Janine Clayton, Director, Office of Research on Women’s Health, and Associate Director for Research on Women’s Health, National Institutes of Health

12:50 pm

Open Discussion – Professional Societies’ Role in Making an Impact & Potential Opportunities for Report Dissemination [audio]